Pas de Quatre is a
balletBallet is a formalized type of performance dance, which originated in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century French courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form...
divertissement choreographed by
Jules PerrotJules-Joseph Perrot was a dancer and choreographer who later became Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia...
in 1845, on the suggestion of Benjamin Lumley, Director at His Majestys Theatre to music composed by
Cesare PugniCesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a virtuoso violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orchestral music...
.
On the night it premiered in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, (July 1845) it caused a sensation with the critics and the public alike. The reason for this was that it brought together, on one stage, the four greatest ballerinas of the time.
Pas de Quatre is a
balletBallet is a formalized type of performance dance, which originated in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century French courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form...
divertissement choreographed by
Jules PerrotJules-Joseph Perrot was a dancer and choreographer who later became Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia...
in 1845, on the suggestion of Benjamin Lumley, Director at His Majestys Theatre to music composed by
Cesare PugniCesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a virtuoso violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orchestral music...
.
On the night it premiered in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, (July 1845) it caused a sensation with the critics and the public alike. The reason for this was that it brought together, on one stage, the four greatest ballerinas of the time. The ballerinas were, in order of appearance,
Lucile GrahnLucile Alexia Grahn was the first internationally renowned Danish ballerina and one of the popular dancers of the Romantic ballet era....
,
Carlotta GrisiCarlotta Grisi, real name Caronne Adele Josephine Marie Grisi was an Italian ballet dancer. She was born on June 28, 1819 in Visinada, Istria and died on May 20, 1899 in Saint-Jean, a district of Geneva, Switzerland...
,
Fanny CerritoFanny Cerrito, originally Francesca Cerrito , was an Italian ballet dancer and choreographer.Born in Naples, she studied under Carlo Blasis and the French choreographers Jules Perrot and Arthur Saint-Léon, to the latter of whom she was married from 1845 – 1851. Notable roles included Ondine and a...
, and
Marie TaglioniMarie Taglioni was a famous Italian/Swedish ballerina of the Romantic ballet era, a central figure in the history of European dance.- External links :*...
. The order of appearance was done by age, from youngest to oldest, to quelch further confrontations between them. The original cast of
Pas de Quatre only danced four performances together; Queen Victoria and
Prince AlbertPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
were in attendance on July 12, 1845, at the third of these four performances.
The fifth great Romantic ballerina of the time,
Fanny ElsslerFanny Elssler , born Franziska Elssler, was an Austrian ballerina.- Life :Daughter of Johann Florian Elssler, a second generation employee of Prince Esterhazy in Eisenstadt. Both Johann and his brother Josef were employed as copyists to the Prince's Kapellmeister, Joseph Haydn...
, was invited to take part in the gala event but declined to do so; the young Lucile Grahn accepted without hesitation.
Nearly one hundred years later, in 1941, the Ballet was restaged by choreographer
Anton DolinSir Anton Dolin was the stage name of Sydney Francis Patrick Healey-Kay , an English ballet dancer and choreographer....
. The dancers he used were, in order of appearance: Nathalie Krassovska as Lucile Grahn, Mia Slavenska as Carlotta Grisi,
Alexandra DanilovaAleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova was a Russian-born prima ballerina who became an American citizen....
as Fanny Cerrito, and
Alicia MarkovaMadame Alicia Markova DBE was an English ballerina, choreographer, director and teacher. She was the first British dancer to become the principal dancer of a ballet company and one of only two British dancers to be recognised as a Prima Ballerina Assoluta. She was widely considered to be one of...
as Marie Taglioni. Since then many ballet companies and dancers have performed the piece.